That is plenty nuts. bravo dude. Hope he gets a good drink and a bj outta the deal.
how do they get the balloon back?
They drive a truck out into the desert, load the balloon in the truck, and then drive back.
(FAA requires plastic balloons to have two methods of dumping gas - one controlled and one on a timer and requires the operator to call in position reports every 2 hrs as long as the balloon is in the air. The balloon has a GPS tracker.)
As soon as it was confirmed that Baumgartner had landed safely, the attention of mission control shifted to the balloon and capsule. The team remotely detached the capsule from the balloon, allowing it to fall back to Earth under its own parachute. It hit the ground 55 miles east of Baumgartner's own landing site. The balloon was deflated via a nylon
destruct line
, with the lightweight balloon material – known as the envelope – falling back to Earth to be gathered and removed by truck. The capsule could, in theory, be used again, but the balloon envelope can only be used once.
They drive a truck out into the desert, load the balloon in the truck, and then drive back.
(FAA requires plastic balloons to have two methods of dumping gas - one controlled and one on a timer and requires the operator to call in position reports every 2 hrs as long as the balloon is in the air. The balloon has a GPS tracker.)
That big 'ol balloon would make a mess out of an airplane.
Felix was in freefall for 34 sec before going supersonic and breaking the speed of sound at 833.9 mph (1324.8 km/h)
and some great footage from his knee cameras here.
I can see my house from there...
I still think the guys who jump off mountains wearing nothing but their 'flying squirell' suits have much, much bigger brass...or less brains!
I think Felix would qualify under all circumstances:
is he the dude that
flew
through the waterfall with his squirrel suit?
crash
That's not a word I'd use when describing what happens when you F up proximity flying in a wing suit. Kiss your butt goodbye, I think is an appropriate term.
Also, flying is a misnomer in my book.
What was it Woody said to Buzz Lightyear?
That's not Flying! That's FALLING, with style!
And I think the term used when you fk up is....
SPLAT!
Tonight National Geographic will be broadcasting the Jump at 7PM EST. Footage from more than 20 HD cameras. Should be good.